Page 1 of Her Captivated Hero

1

A gun in a bar?

Not on his fucking watch!

Gray Tyler lunged from his seat ready to kill. That was when he realized he was dealing with a dumbass of epic proportions.

Asshat fumbled for a gun stuffed in the back of his oil-stained, drooping jeans. Afraid he would get it tangled in his tighty-whities, Gray thought he might be permanently blinded by the sight of gunman’s butt crack.

He ran across the crowded San Diego bar, hearing the crash of chairs that told him Dex and Griff, two of his SEAL team members, were at his back. Gray acted as blocker for his men as they plowed through the packed crowd toward the potential shooter.

Thank the good Lord, it was looking promising that the dumb oaf would plug himself in the ass before he pulled his pistol loose. But still, if Gray started trusting luck at his age, he wouldn’t make it to thirty-seven. Gray shouldered a billionaire-wannabe out of his way, ensuring the petite blonde who’d been beside him stayed upright.

Fuck me running.

Droopy Drawers swung the gun upwards.

“Let go of my woman,” the man slurred as he shot up into the ceiling. He stumbled as he continued. “Stella is mine. You stole her.” The dumbass lowered his gun to point at some weasel hiding behind a woman in a gold miniskirt and pink thigh-high boots.

Really?

Gray thanked God that Griff and Dex’s wives and the rest of the bachelorette party were busy whooping it up on the dance floor behind him, safely out of the line of fire.

Goddammit, would he have noticed this cretin sooner if his attention hadn’t been so focused on the curvy bridesmaid who danced as though she were music in motion?

People started screaming as soon as the shot was fired. Shouts of “Gun,” reverberated throughout the crowd. People were beginning to run and drop to the floor. Gray and his team needed to shut this shit down.

“Dex, left,” Gray commanded. He didn’t even need to see his man to know that he’d be on the left side of the shooter like white on rice.

“Griff, girlfriend.”

With just those four words, his two subordinates understood that he planned to take out Droopy Drawers. Dex was going to be his back-up and Griff would ensure gold-miniskirt-girl stayed safe.

Since they were all special operations, the three of them had concealed weapons permits. But pulling more guns in this situation was a bad idea, especially since this guy was drunker than a skunk.

“Leroy, she’s mine now,” Weasel-face yelled. “She’s never coming back to you.” The little man somehow showed enough courage to step out in front of Stella and plant his hands on his skinny hips.

Just how much stupid could be packed into three people?

Gray saw the shooter’s forearm tense and flew those last seven yards across the wooden floor and slammed his wrist under the man’s hand, causing the second shot to zing upward into the ceiling. He twisted the gun out of DD’s hand, crashing his elbow into his neck. The shooter went down to the floor before he could say ‘Boo’.

“Get off me, you asshole,” a woman shrieked. Gray glanced up in time to see that Griff and Dex had the dishwater blonde and her weasel boytoy safely on the ground.

“Shit, man, you had him taken care of before I even knew what was going on,” a big bouncer said as Gray was using the toe of his boot to turn DD over so that half his ass wasn’t on display.

People started clapping, but it didn’t drown out Stella. Gray shook his head in disgust when she pushed her way past the bouncer and dropped down on top of Droopy-Drawers.

“Leroy. My poor baby, are you all right? Did they hurt you?”

“Stella,” he groaned.

She turned on Gray like a virago. “How dare you attack him like that. What were you thinking? He wouldn’t have shot me. He loves me.”

She peppered kisses on her old boyfriend’s face. Leroy groaned louder. Then he belched. Gray looked at Dex and they both took a step backward. Leroy let out a louder belch and moaned.

“You need an ambulance,” Stella crooned as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Dex’s eyes twinkled.

Gray backed up one more step, grabbing the bouncer’s arm as he did so.